> https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=20361247&goto=item%3Fi...
What's wrong with purchasing an AC at home?
What's wrong with purchasing an AC at home?
I imagine maintaining a lower temperature in a house needs a lot more energy compared to a car, unless maybe you have a tiny well-isolated apartment.
During the first half of my life, very few people in my country (Italy) had AC in their homes. It wasn't until the recent high temperatures, which only became obvious 20 years ago or such, that everybody started installing them.
I can't find a historic chart specific to my country, but I suppose it wouldn't be too dissimilar from this:
https://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017...
But I'd also restrict it as a landlord. An improperly installed window unit can easily lead to water damage through improper sealing or installation, can stress the window frame if it isn't braced appropriately, and be a major falling hazard if installed on upper floors.
Not that it takes advanced skills to avoid most of those potential problems. But there's a reason many apartment complexes nowadays deadbolt utility closets and require maintenance calls for something as mundane as periodically changing out air filters[2]. Making any presumption about the sensibility and competencies of your tenants is a recipe for costly disasters.
[1] https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-the-difference-...
[2] For those less familiar with HVAC units, there are one or more air intakes somewhere in the house. Inside the air intake is a filter that traps dust and other particulates so they don't recirculate through the house. These filters get clogged up over time and need changed out every 1-3 months.
I have a hard time believing there's any place in America where there's houses in HOAs which don't have air conditioning. Sure, there's houses without A/C in America, but they're always very old houses that predate the invention of the HOA, and usually also the invention of the subdivision. If your house already has HVAC, then this discussion is moot since you'd have little reason to install a window unit.